The big limestone mine in Pargas is the base of the main industry and except for the central parts, the municipality is still mostly rural.

Pargas is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages.

[7][8] On 1 January 2009, Pargas, Nagu, Korpo, Houtskär and Iniö merged to form the new municipality of Väståboland (Finnish: Länsi-Turunmaa).

The former municipalities could not agree on a new name, and Pargas insisted on a change, so the state had to step in and decided that the name would be Väståboland.

[14] The possibility of merging with Kimitoön to form a single municipality that would include the entire Åboland archipelago has been discussed since 2007, with interest being reignited by the healthcare reforms during the Sipilä Cabinet.